Those who attend The Open Group conferences benefit from the opportunity to leverage the expertise of other experts, learn from others’ experiences and delve into content most relevant to their jobs and organizations. One way to maximize the benefit is to make technology work for you. If you are attending The Open Group conference in Washington, D.C., we’ve put together a few tips on how to leverage technology to make networking and meet-ups easier, quicker and more effective.

Using Twitter at #ogDCA

Twitter is a real-time news-sharing tool that anyone can use. The official hashtag for the conference is #ogDCA. This allows anybody, whether they are present or not, to follow what’s happening at the Washington, D.C. conference in real-time and to interact with each other.

Before the conference, be sure to update your Twitter client to monitor #ogDCA and to tweet about the conference. If you need to contact the conference team we can be reached on @theopengroup

We’ve setup a foursquare venue for the conference and also for the exhibits hall. Be sure to check in at the venue to see a number of specials and leave tips for other attendees – more information about #ogDCA foursquare campaigns to come shortly. Also, be sure also to check in at the exhibitors on foursquare.

You can check in at the venue at: http://4sq.com/LD1qfQ, or search for “The Open Group Conference Washington DC, #ogCDA.”

Using Facebook at the Washington, D.C. conference

You can also track what is happening at the conference on The Open Group Facebook page. We will be running another photo contest, where all entries will be uploaded to our Facebook page. Members and Open Group Facebook fans can vote by “liking” a photo. The photos with the most “likes” in each category will be named the winner. Submissions will be uploaded in real-time, so the sooner you submit a photo, the more time members and fans will have to vote on it!

If you have any questions about social media usage at the conference, feel free to tweet me (@aj_josey)!

Andrew Josey is Director of Standards within The Open Group. He is currently managing the standards process for The Open Group, and has recently led the standards development projects for TOGAF 9.1, ArchiMate 2.0, IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (POSIX), and the core specifications of the Single UNIX Specification, Version 4. Previously, he has led the development and operation of many of The Open Group certification development projects, including industry-wide certification programs for the UNIX system, the Linux Standard Base, TOGAF, and IEEE POSIX. He is a member of the IEEE, USENIX, UKUUG, and the Association of Enterprise Architects.